Grizzlies fall to Dragons in three
August 29, 2009GOLDEN, Colo.— The Minnesota State University-Moorhead Dragons overcame two set points while taking the final four points and set No. 1 while using a dominating blocking game, led by a Mary Sussenguth, and strong hitting from Laura Tvrdik and Heidi Lensing to post a 26-24, 25-21, 25-16 in-region victory over the Adams State College Grizzlies, Saturday at the Holiday Inn-Denver West Village Oredigger Volleyball Classic, hosted by the Colorado School of Mines here in Lockridge Arena.
The Dragons, who improved to 3-1 on the season with the win, hit .228 throughout the match and outblocked the now 0-3 Grizzlies by a 13.5-2 margin.
Tvrdik finished with 11 kills and a .412 hitting effort while Lensing had an errorless match with nine kills and a .409 attack percentage. The two also combined for nine assisted blocks.
The Grizzlies did receive a career-high 10 kills from freshman outside hitter Dominique Davis (Denver, Colo.) and 14 digs from sophomore AJ Palmer (Colorado Springs, Colo.) but were held to a .060 hitting percentage throughout the match.
The Dragons, who had defeated Western State on Thursday night and Fort Lewis on Friday after falling to Mesa State, trailed for much of the first set and were down by as many as seven points (15-8) after kills from Darcy Jennings-Calkins (Lakin, Kan.), who finished with nine, and Davis. However, the Dragons went on a 4-0 run, triggered by Sussenguth and Lensing kills, to close to within 15-12 and eventually tied the set at 19.
The set was tied on 10 different occasions including at 20, 21 and 22 before back-to-back Dragon miscues gave the Grizzlies a pair of set points. However, Tvrdik put down a kill before Ashley Pyfferoen and Kristen Kleven blocked Grizzly freshman Deprece Washington (Johnstown, Colo.) to tie the set once again at 24. Kleven then put down a kill before a Grizzly attack error gave the Dragons the set and the momentum.
The second set was just as close early on before a 9-3 run behind the serving of Sussenguth and Leigh Splittstoesser allowed the Dragons to seize a 22-16 lead and control of the match.
Eventually finishing that set off with a triple block, the Dragons dominated the end of the third set going on a 10-2 run to finish the match off.
The Dragons hit .444 in the third set while 11 Grizzly hitting errors, five of them thanks to Dragon blocks, contributed to a negative .069 hitting percentage and the end of ASC’s hopes.
